The United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Kazakhstan, his first stop to meet the Central Asian countries, on Tuesday (February 28). Washington has been attempting to establish closer ties with the five former Soviet countries in the area as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which started a year ago.
The senior diplomat for President Joe Biden’s administration travelled to the area for the first time, stopping in at the capitals of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
On Tuesday, Blinken spoke with Mukhtar Tileuberdi, the foreign minister of Kazakhstan, and later met with Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the president of Kazakhstan.
The talks were held between the leaders and foreign ministers of the so-called C5+1 group made up of the US, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. While the former soviet countries have had a somewhat close relationship with Russia, it has recently become strained following Moscow’s invasion of Kyiv and the effect it has had on the Central Asian countries particularly economically.
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